Chapter 2

It was too late as he got blasted from behind, his quick turn to counteract it was dissipated as he flew through the air into the ball's sickening approach. A muffled gasp came from the sailor heroine as she recognized what was about to happen. She pushed with a bit of her last strength and landed on the ground in a crouch. Tuxedo Kamen rolled away as her wand came out and she blasted the ball, it exploded and the goo went to splatter with the blood Kamen was starting to be guaranteed was hers.

The green goo once hitting the wall however turned into a matching color of red. He gave her a questioning look and she sent one back saying she'd explain later. The spider reared up on its hind legs and attacked her with a speed that Kamen barely registered the need to get her out of there, fast.

He pulled her out of harms way the instant the spider's front legs attempted to come down and crush her chest. He held her close, while standing up she was almost eye level, when he held her she seemed small and vulnerable. He reluctantly put her back down as he did at every battle. She seemed a bit agitated he pulled her away though.

"Get the others free." She grated tightly and he sped off to do just that, curious to know when she started giving orders instead of following suggestions by her peers.

As he threw the first batch of roses to free sailor Mars, he realized as he glanced at her why she was annoyed before, for only when she was directly under the beast did she have a clear shot at harming the monster and he pulled her away last time.

With Mars free, he ducked as an angry blast from General Zoicite shot at his head for freeing Sailor Mars. "Help Moon." He pushed her in that direction, working on freeing Jupiter and Mercury, now that he knew what to do it getting them out with the least amount of hassle.

Once the other two were free, Jupiter instantly went to battle with Zoicite, pissed at the obvious ambush on her leader. Meanwhile Mercury was quietly explaining to him what was going on.

He nodded, and then catching onto something she didn't register he pointed to the sidelines, his voice low as he whispered what he wanted her to do. "As soon as the ball starts to appear again, freeze everything, including the ground we're walking on, but make sure the youma gets the brunt of the attack, it'll be near you at this point, Sailor Moon will get it over there. After doing so you have to act fast, create your bubble atmosphere of dense mist, then get away from that spot, Mars will send an attack there and the glass will shatter sending the glass in all directions, hopefully cutting into the youma enough to weaken it, and Sailor moon will join attacks with me to make it moon dust."

"But it will eventually run out of fuel on its own, every time it separates it grows smaller." Mercury pointed out.

"Have you seen your leader recently?" He questioned jerking his hand in her direction; to look at her would be his undoing so he stared intently at Mercury. "Besides, if it gets much smaller then we wont get the chance again, do you realize how dangerous a small one of those can be? We'd loose sight of it then it could do anything it wanted."

"Ok," Mercury still looked hesitant. "All right." She finally agreed fully and running over there, typing on her computer so it looked like she was sitting on the sidelines so she could help in other ways.

Tuxedo Kamen dropped down next to Mars and stood near her throwing roses at the youma as he spoke to her, explaining her part in it. "Until then, go help Jupiter with the two Generals."

"I think that's a demand my leader should be making, not you cape boy." Mars snipped at him.

"I'll say the same thing I said to Mercury, have you looked at your leader yet? I don't see how she is fit to be yelling across the grounds to order you about while battling this youma intent on her more than anybody else. Just do as I say, Mercury even agrees to the plan." Tuxedo Kamen grated in her ear.

Mars ignored his little digs and concentrated on her leader for a moment then at him for a measuring look before thinking through his plan. "Wouldn't Jupiter be better equipped at breaking a window with her super sonic lightning blast?"

"She could possibly, but the idea is to destroy the youma, not let it into our plans. Besides, she's got the stronger power to divert the generals." Tuxedo Kamen also sent a speaking glance at Sailor Moon, one that Mars understood and accepted after a moment. She winked at her friend when Sailor Moon looked towards her, making sure Mars was still ok.

"All right cape boy, just make sure she doesn't get hurt, otherwise I'll be on you like white on rice." She paused a moment, and elaborated. "White rice, not wild." She jumped away towards the generals.

Tuxedo Kamen rolled his eyes behind his white Kamen, Sailor Mars was smart, but she was certainly not bright sometimes. He slid up behind Sailor Moon and wrapped an arm around her waist as she almost dropped back to the ground.

"Thank you." She breathed. "How did you know I needed your support right now?"

"Anytime." He helped her move out of the path as a leg came bitingly close to her head, it managed however to catch her leg and she moaned in protest. "It's my secret." He answered her earlier question; his hand drifted down and covered the fresh bruise making its way across her leg. It faded a bit and she could stand again. When they were both standing she only had to raise her eyes a bit to look him straight in his. It disturbed him every time she did that, it didn't feel right having her be so tall yet feel so petite. "Think you'll make it?" He questioned, concern covering most of his voice and face.

"Yeah, that'll be no trouble." She gave him a bright yet strained smile. "Promise me something hmm?"

"Sure, what's that?" He was pushed by her as a leg from the spider swept under them. "I need to tell you the plan before its too late."

"Promise me that you'll tell me the secret of knowing me so well that you know whenever I need you, someday." She gripped his hand as she jumped through the legs, one going for their legs the other for their heads.

"Of course, I'll promise you that, now about our plan." He proceeded to explain to her what he had developed while avoiding the flying legs of the youma.

"That's such a great plan!" She was sincere in her compliment. "Did you think of it all by yourself?"

"Mercury explained to me the situation and I just thought about it before she did, it's a law of physics she probably hasn't as much knowledge in that field as others." He gave credit where credit was due now that he wasn't faced with opposition to his idea for the first time since thinking of it. But that was just part of Sailor Moon's charm, she gave him absolutely complete trust, and he'd never break it.

"That makes sense." She took a step back then ran a few paces, Kamen was only a few steps behind her. "All right Kamen, it's time for you to do your thing and piss off the youma now."

"Because I do that so often or so well?" He smirked at her obviously misplaced sentence.

"No dummy." She blinked innocently behind her mask that somehow disappeared and reappeared at the oddest times. "You just seem to piss off the enemies so simply, with the roses, I think they get offended." She returned his smirk.

"You forget, they try to kill you first." He teased in return, throwing a rose at the spider, it landed in its eye. Her smile fell instantly as she shot a glance at the generals. "What?" He wondered at her odd behavior suddenly.

"Nothing." She shrugged it off. "I'll explain later."

The youma decided it was pissed off at the latest venue of attack and upped it's own attack to shooting it's legs out more randomly. Sailor Moon was hit by one in the shoulder and dropped to her knees in pain. "You all right?" Kamen asked as he picked her up, and moving out of the way.

The green goop was starting to grow again and the spider shrunk to an even smaller size, if it got any smaller Sailor Moon wouldn't be able to attack it's under belly. "I'm fine." Moon lied, swinging her feet down and pulling Kamen with her towards Mercury. "Come here you fat belly spider want to be." Sailor Moon called to the creepy youma.

It roared and tried to attack her the same time the goop bounded towards them. Mercury froze everything in sight quickly and Moon sent an attack to the underside of the youma as it was lifted up into an attack position. It hesitated long enough to allow Mercury settling down the fog. Mars chose that time to blast the green goop ball just as Moon and Tuxedo Kamen ran out of reach of the debris.

The goop exploded just like Tuxedo planned and it shattered into a million pieces, the youma was hit and it fell to the ground. Sailor Moon used her wand to finish off the beast.

By the time the mist cleared Zoicite was nowhere to be seen. "Thank god that's over." Sailor Moon sighed as she finally lost her adrenaline and fainted into Tuxedo Kamen's waiting arms.

"Sailor Moon!" Jupiter rushed over and tried to take her from Kamen. "Let go, we'll take care of her." She said looking down at her friend in concern.

"You'll get her back after we have a talk." Kamen denied.

"What's the big idea? You can talk to her next time." Mars snipped at him.

"Mars." Mercury admonished. "He just saved the day, you could be a little nicer to him." Sailor Mars only grumbled in reply. "She's right though, your talk will have to be held off for a better time."

Tuxedo Kamen reluctantly handed her over to Sailor Jupiter. "Tell her I expect answers and she's not getting off that easy, all right?"

Sailor Jupiter nodded suspiciously and then Tuxedo Kamen disappeared.